Ice comminuting machine



Oct. 27, 1942. F. A. WILLARD 2,299,866

I ICE COMMINUTING MACHINE Filed April 22, 1941 gazlwm Patented o r. 22, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ICE COMMINUTING MACHINE Frederick A. Willard, Holtville, Calif. Application April 22, 1941, Serial No. 389,731

6 Claims. (01. ass-s3) v This invention relates to devices for producing fine ice, snowlike in texture, from standard cakes of ice.

'A general object of the invention is to provide a machine of this type of improved emciency both from the standpoint of power required and speed of operation.

Another object is to provide an ice shaving machine that produces shaved ice of desired fine texture in a single operation.

Another object is to provide an ice shaving machine that is durable and requires little maintenance.

Another object is toprovide an ice shaving machine for handling large cakes of ice, which machine is particularly easy to load.

Other objects, together with various features of the. machine, will become apparent from the detailed description to follow of a particular embodiment of the invention, which refers to the drawing.

In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section, taken substantially in the plane 11-11 of Fig. 1; s

. Fig. 3 is a developed view of the surface of the drum of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a detail section showing one of the teeth and the manner in which it is mounted on the drum; and

capable of swinging movement about the axis of the bolts I 6. In order to permit accurate adjustment of the lower end of the wall l4 toward and away from the drum 5, a screw adjustment is provided. Thus on each of the walls I there is provided 8. lug Il having a threaded hole for receiving a bolt i8. The inner ends of the bolts I! bear against and support the wall plate I4 and by turning the bolts the position of theplate ll can be accurately adjusted. To retain the adjustment, locknuts i9 are provided on the bolts Fig. 5 is a plan view of the structure shown in section in Fig. 4.

[being secured to the floor 20 immediately in front of the shaving machine. The. whole loading mechanism including the plate 2| is positioned such a distance in front of the shavin machine as to permit room for a standard cake of ice to rest on the floor between the plate 2| and the machine. There is preferably attached to the plate. 2| a pair of forwardly extending side arms 26 to center the cake of ice. The forward portion of the machine above the guide plate II is open, and the forward portion of the top wall ll is constituted by a plate 21 hinged to the wall each of which may be supported upon'beams 3.

Extending between the end frarr e members and rotatably supported. in bearings therein, is a shaft I which supports and rotates a drum 5, the drum being equipped with teeth 6 for shaving ice fed into the machine. The shaft 4 extends through the end wall I at one end'and the outboard end of the shaft carries'a pulley I which is coupled by a belt 8 to the pulley 9 of an electric motor III which is mounted upon the top wall ii of the machine v The machine is provided with a vertical rear wall [2 extending downwardly from the rear edge of the top wall I I, and a rear wall i3 which slopes downwardly and forwardly from the lower edge of the vertical wall l2.

Immediately in front of the drum 5 is an adjustable ice-guiding wall I. Thus it has at its upper ends apair of lugs l5 which are connected by bolts it to the frame members I so that it is member II by any suitable hinge means 28 and having an enlarged, rounded lip 29 on its forward edge.

To load a cake of ice into the machine, the cake is first set vertically on the floor in front of the plate 2| and between the guiding arms 26. An operator then hooks a pair of ice tongs into the upper portion of the-cake, and pulls theupper 1 ice vis simply discharged out of the machine through the opening therein below the guide plate i4. However it will be understood that the ice may be conveyed away from themachine in any desired manner, various types of belt conveyers. screw conveyers and blowers being in general use for this purpose.

Referring now to Fig. 3, which is a developed view of the surface of the drum, the teeth 6 are arranged in definite order on the surface of the drum. It will be observed that the teeth are arranged in curved rows extending transversely across the drum. There are six teeth in each transverse row, except the leftmost, and the two middle teeth 6a are even with each other. The intermediate teeth 6b that are next .to the center teeth Ba-Ea are slightly in advanve thereof and the two outer teeth 60 in each row are slightly in advance of the teeth 6?). It is found that with this arrangement the drum tends to center a cake of ice intermediate the lateral edges of the drum. In fact if a small piece of ice is thrown into the machine, it will be automatically moved to the center of the drum by the action of the teeth thereon. Corresponding teeth in the difierent circumferentially spaced transverse rows are slightly displaced laterally. Thus it will be observed that the tooth 8c in the row back of the row containing tooth 6c, is displaced slightly inwardly with respect to the tooth to. Likewise the tooth 6c" is slightly nearer the middle of the drum than tooth 6c, and so on.

The result is that each of the teeth 6c cuts a furrow in the ice' cake and the following teeth 6c, 60, etc. cut additional furrows adjacent to the furrow cut by the next tooth in advance thereof. The action is exactly the same as that of a gang plow moving across a field, and, as with the gang plow, each of the teeth 6c, 6c", etc. shaves the ice and feeds it laterally into the groove or furrow cut by the tooth in advance thereof.

It will be observed from Fig. 3 that in effect the teeth are arranged in a right-hand helix or screw, beginning at the lower end of the drum, and are arranged in a left-hand helix extending from the center to the upper end of the drum.

The teeth 6 may be secured to the drum in various ways, but I prefer to mount them as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Thus each tooth comprises a bar 30 of rectangular cross section mounted in and projecting from a sleeve 3| .which is welded to the drum 5. Each bar 30 has a sloping surface 32 near the rear end thereof which is engaged by'an adjusting screw 33 threaded into the upper wall of the sleeve 3|. A similar screw 34 is provided near thev forward end of the sleeve for locking the bar 30 in place. By loosening the screw 34 and then tightening the screw 33, the bar can be advanced a desired distance out of the sleeve 6, and then locked in position by tightening the screw 34. The forward end of each bar 30 is hollow-ground on the underside to provide a chisel edge 35 which extends at an angle of approximately 30 to a radius of the drum. The bars 30 are preferably broadened laterally at their forward ends so that the cutting edges 35 extend laterally beyond the supporting sleeve 3| and thereby assure that the edge will clear a path for the sleeve.

By making the removable tooth bars 30 of highgrade material, such as high-speed steel, the machine can be operated for long periods Without resharpening. However if and when resharpening is necessary, it can be easily done bydetaching the teeth from the sockets and grinding them on a suitable wheel.

Although various dimensions may be employed, I have found that highly eflicient results are obtained with teeth one-half inch'in width and set to cut a furrow one-half inchin depth, the actual transverse dimensions of the teeth being x ,1 Because of the angular positioning of the teeth relative to the radii of the drum, teeth %-inch in thickness provide a cutting adge projecting -inch from the drum. In operation, the teeth out to their full depth, the ice cake contacting the surface of the drum in front of each tooth. I have found it satisfactory to hollowgrind the front ends of the teeth to a 2-inch radius.

A machine constructed as described is extremely fast and at the same time produces shaved ice of ideal texture for vegetable packing operations. Thus a machine dimensioned to receive a standard cake of ice 11 /2" x 22 x 44" and driven by a 7 /2 H. P. motor is' capable of shaving four cakes of ice a minute.

Although it might appear from the fact that each tooth takes a cut in depth that the cut ice would be in relatively large chunks, this is not the case. Actually the ice produced is substantially of the texture of coarse, crystalline snow, being sufliciently fine andfree of lumps to eliminate any danger of bruising vegetables packed therewith. At the same time the crushed ice is not of such fine texture as to readily refreeze into solid chunks, a difiiculty encountered when the ice is ground too fine.

Although for the purpose of explaining the invention, a specific embodiment thereof has been described in substantial detail, it is to be understood that various changes may be made in the particular construction shown without departing from the invention, which is to be limited only to the extent set forth in the appended cleams.

I claim:

1. An ice comminuting machine for comminuting a block of ice of the'order of magnitude of a cubic foot or greater comprising a rotatable idrum member having a smooth, solid surface adapted toslidably contact said block of ice, means for rapidly rotating said member at a substantially uniform speed, and means for delivering said block of ice against said member, said member having a plurality of cutting teeth thereon, each of said teeth having a laterally extending cutting edge of substantial width arranged parallel with the axis of said drum member, said teeth being arranged in a plurality of transverse rows extending across said surface, with the next adjacent teeth in each said row being spaced apart a distance at least twice as great as the width of one tooth, said teeth also being arranged circumferentially on a helix, the successive teeth of said helix in the direction of motion of said member being laterally staggered substantially the width of one tooth, whereby successive teeth cut overlapping furrows in the ice block and the ice cut by each tooth is discharged laterally from that tooth to one side only into the furrow cut by the tooth ahead.

2. An ice comminutin machine comprising, a rotatable drummember having a smooth, solid surface adapted to slidably contact and support a block of ice, means for driving said drum member at a substantially uniform speed, and means for delivering said block of ice against said drum member, said drum member having a plurality of cutting teeth thereon, each of said teeth having a laterally extending cutting edge of substantial width arranged parallel with the axis of said drum member, said teeth being arranged in a plurality of transverse rows extending across said drum surface with the next adjacent teeth in each said row spaced apart a distance at least twice as great as the width of one tooth, said teeth also being arranged circumferentially on a helix, the successive teeth of said helix in the direction of motion of said drum member being laterally staggered substantially the width of one tooth, whereby successive teeth out overlapping furrows in the ice block and the ice cut by each tooth is discharged laterally from that tooth to one side only into the furrow cut by the tooth ahead, the successive teeth of said helix forming said transverse'rows also being spaced circumferentially a distance sufiicient to permit said block of ice to engage said drum while said teeth out said furrows in said block.

3. Apparatus as described in claim 2, in which said teeth have chisel edges, the outer side of each tooth being substantially straight and inclined substantially 30 to the direction of movement of the tooth, the forward end of the tooth being hollow ground to define, with said outer side, said chisel edge.

4. An ice comminuting machine for converting a block of ice of volume of the order of magnitude of a cubic foot or greater comprising a drum having a solid cylindrical surface, means for rotatably supporting said drum, means for rotating said drum, means for delivering said block of ice against said drum, said drum having a plurality of ice-cutting teeth thereon, each of said teeth having a lateral cutting-edge of substantial width extending parallel to the axis of said drum and projecting from the drum and adapted to cut a furrow through said block of ice in contact with the'drum, said teeth being arranged in a plurality of transversely extending rows, the rows being uniformly, circumferentially spaced about the drum, the teeth in each transverse row being so positioned as to define *a curved or crescent-shaped row the outer ends of which are in advance of the middle, and the teeth in the different rows being differently positioned crosswise of the drum upon opposed meeting helixes, whereby each tooth of a helix is laterally staggered substantially the width of a tooth from the tooth in the next row in advance thereof, and each tooth cuts a furrow through the ice and discharges the cut ice into the adjacent furrow previously formed by the tooth in advance thereof,

5. In an ice comminuting machine, a rotating cutting drum member, a sloping wall member extendin upwardly and outwardly from said drum member and approximately tangential thereto, said wall member being adapted to guide a cake of ice againstsaid drum member, a supporting floor extending substantially horizontally from the upper edge of said wall member, and means for facilitating the operation of delivering a cake of ice to said wall member, aid means comprising a plate member, and means supporting it for pivotal movement from a vertical position extending upwardly from said floor at a point spaced away from" said guiding wall into angular position with respect to said fioor and in substantial alignment with said guiding wall.

rotatable member and means for rotating it,

means for feeding a block of ice against said member, and a plurality of teeth on said member for engaging and comminuting said block of ice, each of said teeth comprising a sleeve rigidly secured to said member, and a detachable tooth element in the sleeve, said tooth element being slidable in the sleeve in all longitudinal positions and having a side portion at its trailing extremity cut away to provide a beveledrear end, a first stop-screw threaded through the wall of said sleeve for engaging said beveled rear end of said tooth and acting as a stop against rearward motion of the tooth in the sleeve, and second screw means threaded through the wall of said sleeve for engaging a side of said tooth element and frictionally supporting it against longitudinal movement.

FREDERICK A. WILLARD. 

